Numerical Study on the Homogeneous Reactions of Mercury in a 600 MW Coal-Fired Utility Boiler

Qiang Lyu, Chang’an Wang, Xuan Liu and Defu Che
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Qiang Lyu: State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Chang’an Wang: State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Xuan Liu: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Defu Che: State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 2, 1-16

Abstract: The homogeneous oxidation of elemental mercury (Hg 0 ) can promote Hg pollution control in coal-fired power plants, while the mechanisms and quantitative contributions of homogeneous reactions in Hg 0 oxidation, especially the reactions between Hg and chlorine (Cl), are still unclear. Here, a numerical study on the homogeneous reactions of Hg was conducted within a 600 MW tangentially fired boiler for the first time. A novel Hg sub-model was established by coupling the thermodynamics, reaction kinetics and fluid dynamics. The results showed that the higher Cl content in coal was beneficial to the oxidation of Hg 0 . The homogeneous reactions of Hg mainly occurred in the vertical flue pass at low temperature. Hg 0 was still the dominant Hg-containing species at the boiler exit, and the concentration of mercury chloride (HgCl 2 ) was the highest among the oxidized mercury. When low-Cl coal was fired, the addition of a small amount of chlorine species into the boiler at the burnout area increased the ratio of HgCl 2 by over 16 times without causing serious chlorine corrosion problems.

Keywords: mercury; computation fluid dynamics (CFD); homogeneous reaction; utility boiler; chlorine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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